Ezekiel 14:15

Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts,

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — God addresses the exiled community in Babylon through Ezekiel, outlining the severe judgments that will fall upon Judah regardless of any righteous individuals who might remain.

The words — The text specifies the singular forms חַיָּה (chaiyah, “animal”) and רָעָה (ra’ah, “wild”), combined with אַעֲבִיר ('a'vir, “I will cause to pass”) to describe the deliberate movement of a predatory creature into the territory.

The thread — This specific threat appears in Leviticus 26:22, where God warns of wild animals robbing the people of their children, and in Ezekiel 5:17, where famine and wild beasts are promised to leave the land childless.

Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to acknowledge that divine judgment functions autonomously, rendering the land desolate and uninhabitable irrespective of human merit or survival.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

לֽוּ־lu-if חַיָּ֥הchai.Yahanimal[s]רָעָ֛הra.'Ahwild אַעֲבִ֥יר'a.'a.VirI will cause to pass בָּאָ֖רֶץba./'A.retzin the/ land וְשִׁכְּלָ֑תָּהve./shi.ke.La.ta/hand/ it will make childless/ it וְהָיְתָ֤הve./ha.ye.Tahand/ it will be שְׁמָמָה֙she.ma.Maha desolation מִבְּלִ֣יmi./be.Libecause/ not עוֹבֵ֔רo.Ver[one who] passes by מִפְּנֵ֖יmi./pe.Nei<from>/ because of הַחַיָּֽה׃ha./chai.Yahthe/ animal[s]

King James Version

If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:

Cross-references

Leviticus 26:22 I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.
Ezekiel 5:17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
Jeremiah 15:3 I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
2 Kings 17:25 Now when the settlers first lived there, they did not worship the LORD, so He sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
1 Kings 20:36 Then the prophet said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, as soon as you depart from me a lion will kill you.” And when he left, a lion found him and killed him.